Jakub Hrůša has concluded his 2016/17 season by making his BBC Proms debut with the BBC Symphony Orchestra at London’s Royal Albert Hall, rounding off a remarkable season which has also seen him make debuts with the Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, and the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra. In addition to these major debuts, Hrůša was also appointed Principal Guest Conductor of the Philharmonia Orchestra from 2017/18, and embarked upon his inaugural season as Chief Conductor of the Bamberg Symphony.

Prom 56: The Bohemian Reformation was earmarked as “a Proms highlight” and “unmissable” by David Nice, who was also full of praise after the concert, writing in his 5-star review for The Arts Desk: “Hrůša’s muscular drive, allied to utter focus and a care for colour which echoes that of his late, lamented teacher JiříBělohlávek, kept it all wondrously alive.”

In another 5-star review for the concert, Sophia Lambton (Bachtrack) writes of Hrůša’s “inarguable taste and intuition… Hrůša lends a definition to sublime performance for this current era”.

Of Hrůša and the all-Czech programme – which included works by Smetana, Martinů, Dvořák, Janáček and Suk – Mark Allen of The Times said: “the rising Czech conductor Jakub Hrůša instilled such passion into the BBC Symphony Orchestra that an evening of rarities made a thrilling impression.”

And in reviewing the concert, Barry Creasy describes the performance as “tremendous” and “spine-tingling” (MusicOMH), whilst Classical Iconoclast describes Hrůša as “one of the most exciting conductors around… Definitely a conductor to follow”.

In addition to his new position with the Philharmonia Orchestra, Jakub Hrůša is Chief Conductor of the Bamberg Symphony, Permanent Guest Conductor of the Czech Philharmonic and Principal Guest Conductor of the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra. In September, Hrůša brings the work of Josef Suk to the Bamberg Symphony’s season opening concert, in a programme that also includes works by Bach and Wagner.